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Amit Yoran resigned over the weekend as chief executive of In-Q-Tel , the venture capital arm of the U.S. spy community, after less than four months on the job.

Yoran, a seasoned technology entrepreneur and investor as well as a former head of cybersecurity for the Department of Homeland Security, had led In-Q-Tel since January. He said yesterday that his reasons for leaving were entirely personal, including a desire to spend less time on the road and more with his family. He and his wife have three young children. In-Q-Tel has investments all over the country, and Yoran has traveled extensively. Considered a success inside the Central Intelligence Agency, which created it, In-Q-Tel's mandate has been expanding to find more technology for more spy agencies.

"It's a very amicable parting," said Yoran, 35. "I will say I'm sorry and disappointed as well. But these are personal issues. . . . My continued performance as CEO was not going to be possible."

Yoran said he will continue to work with In-Q-Tel as a part-time consultant. Before taking the chief executive job four months ago, Yoran had invested money in several private technology companies. He continues to serve on several company boards.

"In-Q-Tel has benefited from Amit's vision and leadership during his tenure as CEO," Ault said in a statement. "We appreciate his service to In-Q-Tel, and we look forward to continuing In-Q-Tel's unique and important mission of delivering important and cutting edge technologies to the CIA and the intelligence community."

In-Q-Tel calls itself a venture capital firm, but venture investing is a small part of what it does. The CIA created the organization as a nonprofit, and its job was to identify technologies being funded and developed by the private sector that could have value in intelligence-gathering or national security applications. In-Q-Tel makes small investments in start-up companies, almost always as a junior partner to traditional venture capital funds. Most of In-Q-Tel's money goes toward evaluating and funding the technology to make sure the CIA or other intelligence agencies can use it.

Yoran had begun to ramp up In-Q-Tel's investment activity to meet its growing budget and responsibilities. He said the organization has an annual budget of more than $50 million -- up from $30 million to $35 million several years ago -- and includes as "investors" several other intelligence and homeland security agencies in addition to the CIA. In its early years, In-Q-Tel was funded almost entirely by the CIA. All of In-Q-Tel's contacts with the intelligence community, no matter the agency, still run through a special office inside the CIA.

Last month, Yoran hired his old friend, Mark Frantz , a well-known local venture capitalist who spent the past five years with the Carlyle Venture Partners , as In-Q-Tel's managing general partner. Frantz in an interview last week said the organization would be hiring more people for its investing team.

"We're not exactly taking out help-wanted ads, but we want to add to our venture team," Frantz said. "We've got some very talented folks here, but we're here to turn it up a notch. "

Yoran took over from founding chief executive Gilman Louie , who ran In-Q-Tel since its 1999 inception. The board is expected to appoint an interim chief executive this week and begin a national search for Yoran's replacement.

Yoran said 120 technologies partly funded by In-Q-Tel have been deployed by the CIA or other agencies. "Unfortunately, we can't talk about the specific uses," he said.